


light of my life, hope of my heart

by Merrom



Category: Final Fantasy XIII Series
Genre: ...sort of, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Spoilers, One Shot, post-LR
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-14
Updated: 2014-05-14
Packaged: 2018-01-24 17:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1613936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merrom/pseuds/Merrom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>She has never believed in destiny, or fate, or any of that nonsense. Things happen as they will, regardless of what the stars may have to say about it, but she believes that broken people are drawn to other broken people, and that’s exactly what Lightning Farron and Hope Estheim are: the woman who’d forcibly extinguished her own light, and the boy who’d lost all hope.</i> </p><p>Lightning and Hope’s relationship throughout Final Fantasy XIII, plus a bit at the end of Lightning Returns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	light of my life, hope of my heart

**Author's Note:**

> This was sorta written for the FFXIII week on Tumblr, except that I'm trash and finished a day late /bricked
> 
> Repost from tumblr here: http://musingsofawanderingalbatross.tumblr.com/post/85522442259/light-of-my-life-hope-of-my-heart

_(5)_

When Lightning looks at Hope, she can see herself in him.

It’s the girl she used to be that he reminds her of. She sees Claire Farron clenched tightly in his fists when he dreams his angry dreams, in the unshed tears that sting at his eyes when he thinks she isn’t looking, in the steely determination that grips him by the spine when he takes point. She sees the girl she’d shut away deep within herself when she became Lightning – all the raw emotion, the confusion, the pain, and she knows she can help this boy.

She has never believed in destiny, or fate, or any of that nonsense. Things happen as they will, regardless of what the stars may have to say about it, but she believes that broken people are drawn to other broken people, and that’s exactly what Lightning Farron and Hope Estheim are: the woman who’d forcibly extinguished her own light, and the boy who’d lost all hope.

_(4)_

She tells him why she is Lightning: powerful, relentless, fleeting. Flashing bright, fading away. Lightning was what she’d needed to be at the time, and so Lightning she became. It’s not often that Lightning chooses to talk about herself – this rose-haired lady is still very much a mystery, and so Hope listens to her words as she shares her story with him.

Lightning is the name that she’d chosen for herself, she tells him, but there is a reason he prefers to call her Light. Lightning is cruel and merciless, striking down everything in its path, but light – Light is warm and golden and inviting, and it will always be what leads him home.

There is another reason he calls her Light, one that he will never tell her, that he can barely admit to himself. But he remembers listening to his mother’s fairy tales as a young boy, and in every single one of them, light was synonymous with hope.

_(3)_

“Operation Nora didn’t work out.”

There’s too many emotions running through the both of them at this declaration. She can hear everything his words didn’t say in the resigned way he spoke, in the weak hand that returns her survival knife, and without a second thought Lightning pulls him into her arms the way she used to comfort Serah when she had nightmares.

She’s only known him for a few short days, but in that span of time she’s learned to trust him to watch her back. He’s inexperienced, but he’s a quick learner, and she knows he’ll be all right.

“I’ll keep you safe,” she promises, and she means it. She has not allowed herself to let people into her life for a long time, ever since she’d realised how easy it is to lose them. But for this boy, she decides, she can make an exception.

_(2)_

They’d won the battle, but somehow it didn’t feel like a victory.

Hope is thankful it’s all over, but he cannot help but feel a stab of regret over Fang and Vanille. He already misses them. He hears a delighted peal of laughter, and he turns, expecting to see his coral-haired friend, but instead it’s a rose-haired young lady who can only be Lightning’s sister Serah running into Snow’s embrace, and he notices Dajh similarly barreling into his father’s arms, and yes, he’s glad to see them too. But it’s not fair, it’s not fair that they all smile and laugh with each other while he’s alone, it’s not fair that Vanille and Fang get to be together while he has no one, it’s not  _fair_  that everyone’s reuniting while his mother is still dead.

He feels a hand on his shoulder – _Lightning’s_ , he registers, before seeing her concerned face regarding him. She puts her arm around him gently and steers him towards everybody else, and he allows her to. They’ve all been through too much as a group, and he’s sure that for today, at least, they could all be a family together.

_(1)_

They have lived for over a thousand years, and they went through the end of the world together. Now, standing before him in their new world, Lightning –  _Claire_ feels her throat dry up.

She knows from her time in Valhalla what he looked like as a young man, of course, but this is her first time seeing him face to face like this, and as he takes a step towards her she can’t help but notice that he’s taller than she is, and his shoulders have broadened, and his features have sharpened, and he stares and stares at her and neither of them quite know what to say.

"Hello, Light," he says eventually. Softly, incredulously, as if he isn’t quite believing his eyes, and she can’t blame him.

"It’s Claire now, actually."

And as she allows herself to be swept up into his tight embrace, she remembers the boy he used to be. She thinks about how safe she feels in his arms now, and about how lonely she’s been lately, and Claire swallows and thinks to herself:

 _oh, fuck_.

_(0)_

Neither of them can ever truly forget what they’ve been through, but they find their solace in each other’s arms. She is the light of his life, and he is the hope in her heart. Together they complete each other, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

 


End file.
